Lore

A healer gifted with the magic of the stars, Soraka holds all living creatures close to her heart. She was once a celestial being, but she sacrificed her immortality and entered the world of mortals. So long as evil threatens life in Valoran, Soraka will not allow herself peace.

Soraka lived for centuries in an enchanted grove. A being of the stars, she healed the wounded and sick that sought her out. One man called Warwick came to her grove and begged her to heal his wife, who lay lifeless in his arms. His despair touched Soraka's heart. Though it was too late to save his wife, she offered to help heal the pain of his loss. Unwilling to let go of his grief Warwick ran from the grove, but returned over the following days to hear Soraka's guidance. She began to grow attached to the grieving man. One day Warwick told her he had found the men who killed his wife. He believed revenge would heal his pain – and if he died fighting, he would at least find peace. Though she pleaded with him, Warwick ignored her and left the grove. The voices of the stars warned her not to follow him, but Soraka had to intervene.

She stepped into the mortal world for the first time, and soon found Warwick desperately fighting a group of men. She tried to heal him, but for every wound she closed, the men inflicted two more. Soraka realized that she would have to fight to save her friend. The stars screamed in her mind, telling her not to use her powers for harm. Ignoring their warning, she struck the attackers with a flash of brilliant light. Crying out in terror and shielding their eyes from her divine radiance, they fled. Soraka's celestial form faded and the stars fell silent – for her transgression, she became mortal. She still felt the power of the stars within her, but they no longer offered her guidance. She took comfort in Warwick's safety, gently healing his wounds, but the man she had called her friend slipped a dagger between her ribs. As her blood spilled, Soraka realized he had fooled her, and everything he had done was a complicated ruse. Feeling humiliated and betrayed she called once more on the power of the stars, searing his flesh and cursing his cruelty. He retreated with an agonized howl, leaving Soraka to reflect upon her fate. Though her life had changed, she felt empowered and renewed with a singular purpose. No longer bound to the grove, Soraka set out into the mortal world, vowing to heal the wounded and protect the helpless.

Visual Upgrade: Soraka, the Starchild

We're thrilled to announce that the stars have aligned and Soraka will soon be receiving a massive visual upgrade. Her classic look and skins will feature all-new models with revamped animations, visual effects and VO along with stunning splash art to introduce you to her new look.

Celestine Soraka

The stars themselves have conspired to reform Soraka into a mighty battle cleric. An empyrean being of grace and poise, Celestine Soraka radiates with new particles and effects. New animations grace the Star Child, too: Celestine Soraka levitates towards the heavens as she returns to base, and when she is taken in battle, she dissipates into stardust before readying for her return to the Fields of Justice.

Champion Insights

designed by Vesh

Healers. Healers healers healers.

We’ve talked a bunch previously about healing being an (ironically) unhealthy mechanic in League. If hurting your enemies is fun – and it totally is – then presumably seeing them get unhurt is... unfun? Our more recent champion kits revolve around temporarilyblocking damage and shields rather than straight up undoing pain. But what about Soraka, League’s principal healer? Topping up health is an integral part of her kit, so we set about exploring numerous kit and mechanical ideas to see where we could take her. Ultimately, we concluded that a heal-centric kit could work just fine in League – we just need to implement it correctly and add in elements of risk to what has traditionally been a very safe, non-interactive action.

So how did we do that with Soraka? First off, we hit her primary heal’s range. Now she needs to get into the thick of a fight to heal her allies, meaning enemies can easily switch targets and start attacking her instead. Secondly, we changed Astral Infusion so it now costs mana and health. While this is pretty cool thematically, it also means that Soraka isn’t just a health battery. She has to be careful with her casts - heal too much and she becomes an easy kill for the enemy team. We balanced this out with Starcall, which is no longer a “spam Q and deal a bunch of damage and MR shred” ability. Instead, it takes skill to land, and she’ll deal decent damage while restoring her own health, making her key combat loop genuinely interactive. Soraka now has to heal at the appropriate time with Astral Infusion before successfully landing Starcall to return some of her lost health.

That’s it for Soraka, who’s taking on a more active role during all stages of the game, and who’ll have to think carefully about the timing and target of her heals. Check out the Viktor Update article for more news from the Champion Update team! If that doesn’t scratch your itch, then hang tight – we have some pretty... big... news coming.

Tremble before Reaper Soraka

BY RIOT PARADOX

Cloaked and cowled in torn garments, a figure steps onto the ravaged battlefield. A curved horn juts out from beneath her hood, its shape mimicking the battered scythe gripped in her hand. Hundreds of bodies litter the dirt, still warm from the recent battle. With a swipe of her scythe, the ground cracks before Reaper Soraka as she summons a spirit, the tortured soul rising from the abyss to serve its new master.

Harvest the power of fallen souls with Reaper Soraka, available for 1350 RP (on sale for 975 RP through November 10) before going into the Legacy Vault on November 21.

You’re cordially invited to a soirée!

BY RIOT PARADOX

For the past year, you've reminded us over and over (and over) of something we once released. You bombarded everything from Twitter to telegraphs and overwhelmed computer repair shops with shattered caps lock keys.

The time has come. This March 32nd, we're releasing a suite of silly skins. Dress up with Nasus, Udyr, Soraka, and Nami for a party of the ages!

The enlightened embrace banana hats.

Previous Lore

Soraka, the Starchild of Ionia, was the first of her kind. While there are many who tap into the rich magical energies of Valoran, she was the first to tap into the magic of the cosmos itself – the celestial sea in which it is theorized that Runeterra swims among other like bodies. While Runeterran magicians are limited by the finite (though tremendous) powers of runes, there have always been those who have searched to go further. Reaching beyond the terrestrial firmament of Runeterra, Soraka was capable of invoking the power of the stars, evolving beyond her kin. This power has changed her in fantastical ways – it is for this reason that she became known as the Starchild.

Though Soraka was once trans-human, Soraka has fallen since she let the most primal of emotions rule her. Warwick, a mercenary chemist in the service of Noxus, had caused untold suffering and death among Soraka's people. An alchemical genius who took no responsibility for the atrocities he'd caused, Warwick became known as "the Deathmaker" by the Ionian people. As Noxian murder and terror pushed ever-forward across her land, unstoppable anger and hatred welled within Soraka. She called down the power of the heavens to curse and forever change the Deathmaker, and she mutated the man into a werewolf – a wild, murderous beast. For this misstep, Soraka lost much of her power, sacrificing her trans-human ascension and sliding several steps down the evolutionary ladder in an instant. Though she is still a champion of the Ionian people, Soraka has joined the League of Legends in hopes of reversing her curse and redeeming herself in the eyes of the stars.

"Though having fallen from grace, Soraka is nonetheless determined to once again be one with the stars."

Soraka, the Starchild of Ionia, was the first of her kind. While there are many who tap into the rich magical energies of Valoran, she was the first to tap into the magic of the cosmos. Reaching beyond the terrestrial firmament, Soraka was capable of invoking the power of the stars, evolving beyond her kin. That is, until she let her most primal of emotions rule her. Warwick, a mercenary chemist in the service of Noxus, had caused untold suffering and death amongst Soraka's people. Unstoppable anger and hatred welled within her and she cursed the man to become a beast. Soraka lost much of her power for this misstep, sliding several steps down the evolutionary ladder in an instant. Though she is still a champion of the Ionian people, Soraka has joined the League of Legends in hopes of reversing her curse and redeeming herself in the eyes of the stars.

"Though having fallen from grace, Soraka is nonetheless determined to once again be one with the stars."

Active: Soraka summons a shower of stars to fall from the sky, striking all nearby enemy units within range for magic damage and reducing their magic resistance by 6 (+1% AP) for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 10 times.

Magic Damage: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 40% AP)

If Starcall hits at least one enemy champion, Astral Blessing's cooldown is reduced by a percentage of its base cooldown (after factoring in cooldown reduction).

Due to Soraka's base mana and mana increase per level, Infuse effectively receives a 12 bonus and additional 3 per level mana restore and magic damage to its base stats up to a 63 increase at level 18. Due to Salvation the mana restore can be further increased up to a 94.5 bonus if the target ally has 0 current mana.

Wish

RANGE: Global

COST: 100 Mana

COOLDOWN: 160 / 145 / 130

Active: Soraka fills her allies with hope, restoring health to herself and all friendly champions. Wish can affect untargetable allies.

New Innate: Soraka gains 70% bonus movement speed while moving toward allied champions below 40% of their maximum health who are outside of Astral Infusion's range. (Allies must be within 2500 range of Soraka.)

Revised Active: Soraka calls down a star at a target location, dealing damage to enemies at the point of impact. The drop speed is longer the further away the ability is cast. Enemies hit directly take 50% increased damage and are slowed by 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% for 2 seconds.

Will now infuse half of the mana value to the target, and half of the value to Soraka when targeting an ally instead of giving the full value to the target. Soraka will get the full benefit of Infuse when she casts it on herself.